Key events
Bringing back Boris Johnson as UK PM would be ‘a joke’, says polls expert
Bringing Boris Johnson back as Conservative leader would be seen as “an utter joke” by voters, who would not tolerate yet another change of prime minister, a leading elections expert has said. My colleague Peter Walker has the story here.
What Sturgeon said on how social media undermines democracy because it entrenches division and poisons debate
This is what Nicola Sturgeon said in her speech to the RSA about social media being a threat to democracy. (See 2.56pm.) The full speech does not seem to be available online yet, and so I’ll quote it in full.
She is not the first politician to say this, but she sums up the problem particularly well. And the argument is particularly powerful coming from her, because Sturgeon is seen as better at using social media (at least Twitter) than most other people in top jobs in British politics.
She said:
I have not often in my political career agreed with Tony Blair, but I did recently hear him expressed the view that social media is a plague on politics. And while I don’t agree that this is an inevitability, I do think it is the reality right now.
It is distorting debate. The sheer pace of rolling news encourages us to speak first and think later. Minor dramas become crises and then catastrophes in what can often feel like nanoseconds. Algorithms create echo chambers, they obliterate nuance and force us into binary positions that polarise even – sometimes especially – the most complex of of issues. The distinction between objective fact and subjective opinion has all but disappeared. Absolutely everything is contested, which makes finding common ground much, much harder.
And all of this is undermining rational decision making. Decision makers are under enormous pressure to take positions and respond to events at breakneck speed, with next to no time to weigh up complexities or uncertainties. The amplification effects of social media too often leads politicians to think that quite extreme positions are the view of the majority when they are most definitely not.
And then, of course, there is the abuse that is hurdled at anyone who puts their head above the parapet. Politics has always been tough. And I’m a great believer that it should be tough. But social media is creating an environment that, frankly, is harsher and more hostile, particularly for women and those from minority communities, than at any time in my political career. It gives racism, misogyny, sexism, bigotry generally – none of these new phenomena by any means – a platform and a vehicle. And if we’re not careful, it will drive the kinds of people we desperately need to see more of in politics and public life even further away.
Now, to be clear, I know we can’t turn the clock back. I’m not naive about that. Social media in one form or another is here to stay and no doubt it will go on changing and changing rapidly.
But I am firmly of the view that if it continues to dominate and shape, or rather misshape, debate in the way that it does know, if we continue to allow the negatives to outweigh the positives, we do risk destroying our ability to address the massive era-defining issues that the world currently faces.
So we must – and this is a personal view, but one I hold very strongly – we must as a matter of urgency rediscover and recharge one of the basic functions of democracy, to peaceably and civilly resolve our differences …
We cannot shy away from legitimate political, economic, social, or constitutional issues because they divide opinion or involve hard choices. Instead, for the sake of democracy, we must find ways of debating and resolving these issues with respect, reason, civility, and good faith.
Indeed, in my view, and this is based on many years now of experience, this probably is one of the most pressing issues confronting democracies everywhere. And the reason is simple: unless we improve the quality of our debate, discourse and decision making, and underpin it with reason and a degree of social cohesion, we will be increasingly incapable of finding solutions to the massive economic, social, environmental challenges we face. And we will certainly not be able to do so with anything like the consensus needed for implementing some of these solutions.
Sturgeon claims SNP will emerge after leadership contest in ‘stronger position’
Q: How impressed have you been by the contest? And what will the voters think?
Sturgeon says the SNP has not had a leadership contest for almost 20 years.
And in the last 30 years, it has only had three leaders.
So this is an unusual position for the party to be in. But it is healthy, and it will lead to the party being in a “stronger position”.
Q: If the party is in a mess, who caused it – you or your husband, Peter Murrell, the SNP chief executive?
Sturgeon says the SNP is undefeated electorally. The polls show it is significantly ahead. The SNP is “in a position of electoral strength” that other parties would love to be in, she says.
Sturgeon is now taking questions from the floor.
Q: What do you make of Mike Russell’s comment that your party is in a mess? Should you stay as first minister a bit longer?
No, says Sturgeon.
She says Russell did not say the party was in a mess. He was talking about the process.
She says she is not endorsing any candidate. She will back whoever wins.
Q: Are we winning the battle on climate change?
No, says Sturgeon. She says that is very depressing. If things do not change, climate change will win.
She says this illustrates the point she made in her speech; you have to take on established thinking, she says.
She is often described as anti-business, she says. She says she isn’t. But businesses do not exist in a vaccum.
She describes today’s IPCC report as a wake-up call.
Sturgeon is now doing a Q&A. Andy Haldane, the RSA chief executive, is asking the questions.
Q: What advice would you give your 16-year-old self?
Sturgeon says at heart she is an introvert. She has had to overcome that.
When she was young, she probably took herself too seriously, she says. She says now she is retiring, at the age of almost 53, she can have more fun. She jokes that her advice would have been, “don’t leave it to 53 to have fun”.
Sturgeon says, when dealing with Covid, and holding press conferences every day, she learnt that the public is much better at dealing with nuance than politicians assume.
She says she thinks leaders should be willing to embrace complexity, and explain it to people.
And she says politicians should be willing to risk doing things that are difficult and controversial.
Sturgeon says social media is threat to democracy because it makes rational decision making much harder
Sturgeon says she does not normally agree with Tony Blair, but she thought he was right when he said recently that social media was a “plague” on democracy.
She says social media forces people “to speak first and think later”. It encourages polarisation, and breaks down the distinction between fact and opinion, she says.
She says it makes rational decision making much harder, and it “often leads politicians to think that quite extreme positions are the view of the majority when they are most definitely not”.
And it also leads to politicians facing abuse, she says. She says politics has always been tough, and should be tough.
But social media is creating an environment that, frankly, is harsher and more hostile, particularly for women and those from minority communities than at any time in my political career.
She goes on:
I am firmly of the view that if [social media] continues to dominate and shape – or rather mis-shape – in the way that it does know, if we continue to allow the negatives to outweigh the positives, we do risk destroying our ability to address the massive era-defining issues that the world currently faces.
That is why it is essential to find a peaceful and civil way of resolving differences, she says.
Sturgeon says the SNP leadership election has been “somewhat fractious”.
But this is a moment for the SNP to “change, refresh and renew”, she says.
The party is electing a new leader “from a position of electoral strength”.
But it has to be careful it does not “throw the baby out with the bathwater”, he says.
She says she is firmly of the view that her party will emerge from this “in a strong position”.
Nicola Sturgeon is now delivering what is being billed as her last major speech as Scotland’s first minister. Her successor will be announced a week today.
There is a live feed at the top of the blog.
Privileges committee receives submission from Johnson about Partygate inquiry
The Boris Johnson submission, setting out why he thinks he did not commit a contempt of parliament in what he told MPs about Partygate, has now been received by the privileges committee, a source close to the process has revealed.
Jane Merrick from the i and Lizzy Buchan from the Mirror are also hearing that we may not get the Boris Johnson dossier to the Commons privileges committee until tomorrow.
NEW: Westminster may have to bate its breath a bit longer for Boris Johnson’s partygate dossier to be published – I understand it may not be out until tomorrow or even Weds morning: https://t.co/MwNlJuEAun
— Jane Merrick (@janemerrick23) March 20, 2023
No sign of Boris Johnson’s bombshell Partygate defence dossier – understand it hasn’t made it to the Privileges Committee yet.
Tomorrow sounding a bit more likely
— Lizzy Buchan (@LizzyBuchan) March 20, 2023
James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, has announced that he will meet the EU’s Maroš Šefčovič on Friday to formally adopt the Windsor framework, the revised version of the Northern Ireland protocol, PA Media reports.
Mick Lynch says next week’s rail strikes still on, despite deal with Network Rail, because dispute with train firms continuing
In a statement about the settlement with Network Rail, Mick Lynch, the RMT general secretary, stressed that the union’s dispute with the train operating companies was still on. But he said he hoped this could lead to the government allowing them to make a better offer.
Lynch said:
Strike action and the inspiring solidarity and determination of members has secured new money and a new offer which has been clearly accepted by our members and that dispute is now over.
Our dispute with the train operating companies remains firmly on and our members’ recent highly effective strike action across the 14 train companies has shown their determination to secure a better deal.
If the government now allows the train companies to make the right offer, we can then put that to our members, but until then the strike action scheduled for March 30 and April 1 will take place.
The ball is in the government’s court.
RMT votes to accept Network Rail pay offer
Members of the RMT union have voted to accept a pay offer from Network Rail, my colleague Gwyn Topham reports.
Jeffrey Donaldson says DUP will vote against NI protocol deal on Wednesday
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP leader, has said that its eight MPs will vote against the deal to revise the Northern Ireland protocol on Wednesday.
But the party has been engaged in an extensive consultation on the proposal, and in his statement Donaldson said that voting against was indicative of the party’s “current” position. He said that the deal represented progress in some areas and that the DUP was still seeking “further clarification, reworking and change”.
He said:
Since the announcement that the “Stormont brake” is to be debated and voted upon in parliament on Wednesday there have been a number of indications that this vote will be read as indicative of current positions on the wider Windsor framework package.
Our party officers, the only decision-making mechanism in our party on these matters, met this morning and unanimously agreed that, in the context of our ongoing concerns and the need to see further progress secured, whilst continuing to seek clarification, change and reworking, that our members of parliament would vote against the draft statutory instrument on Wednesday.
We will continue to work with the government on all the outstanding issues relating to the Windsor framework package to try to restore the delicate political balances within Northern Ireland and to seek to make further progress on all these matters.
Some Tory Brexiters have said that the position of the DUP would be crucial in deciding whether or not they could back the deal, and so this decision will increase the chance of some Conservatives voting against the deal too.
There is no prospect of Rishi Sunak losing, because Labour will vote with the government. But a large revolt would undermine his authority, and revive claims that party divisions on Brexit are irreconcilable.
Photograph: Michael Reynolds/EPA
No 10 backs Mordaunt in saying Tories should not be trying to obstruct work of privileges committee
Downing Street has backed Penny Mordaunt, leader of the Commons, in urging Conservatives not to attack the privileges committee’s investigation into Boris Johnson. The PM’s spokesperson told journalists this morning:
We think this is a committee that’s carrying out a function asked to by parliament, it’s a parliamentary matter, and the leader of the house set out how we would want parliamentarians to engage with it.
Some Conservatives believe the inquiry is rigged against Johnson, and some of the coverage in pro-Tory papers has amplified this view. Conservative Post, an obscure Tory website, is urging its readers to send a standardised email the four Conservative MPs who sit on the committee expressing their “deep concern and disappointment” about the MP’s participation in the “Labour-led investigation” and urging them to resign from the committee to protect their “integrity”.
Peter Cruddas, a former Tory treasurer who was given a peerage by Boris Johnson even though the House of Lords Appointments Commission expressed propriety concerns, has also been using his Twitter feed to attack the inquiry. He posted this this morning.
Surely it is time for #rishisunak to intervene because there is a conflict of interest.
The Privileges Committee should not proceed until the Sue Gray story around her report is cleared up.
Stop treating the electorate with contempt. https://t.co/YhdJLeqaoO— Lord Cruddas of Shoreditch (@peteratcmc) March 20, 2023
Lord Cruddas also heads the Conservative Democratic Organisation, which argues for more grassroots democracy in the party but which is widely seen as a closet ‘bring back Johnson as leader’ campaign.
Mordaunt seemed to be referring to Cruddas in the Commons on Thursday last week when she urged all parliamentarians to respect the work being down by the privileges committee. She said:
This house asked the committee to do this work. We referred this matter to the committee for it to consider; we asked it to do this work and to do it well, and it should be left to get on with it.
That is the will of this house, and I think a very dim view will be taken of any member who tries to prevent the committee from carrying out this serious work, or of anyone from outside the house who interferes.
On a personal level, an even dimmer view will be taken of anyone from the other place [the House of Lords] who attempts to do similar.
